What looked like a rotation from the tech stocks into stable names has suddenly ended. As the market reached record highs, Cramer tried making sense of the selloff. Usually tech selloffs are triggered by shortfalls in earnings. The investors sell their stocks and analysts downgrade big names in the group. However, this time it was different as the trigger was not due to a shortfall in earnings but due to a large fund selling. “So there was no reason for the analysts to follow up yesterday with more downgrades. Because there was no actual shortfall. There was no tech massacre,” said Cramer.

Even despite this, there were no analyst revisions. As a result, there are scattered gains everywhere. Bank stocks and financials are up in expectation of a rate hike and some industrial stocks are up due to strong earnings. “Before we tell ourselves that the tech selloff’s over and we can go back to buying, we need to address a two-part conundrum in this rally. First, the tech comeback is anemic. There are plenty of techs that are still well below where they were on Thursday. If there really isn’t more to the selloff, then they should be higher,” said Cramer.

“Second, the other rallies similarly lacked punch. It was a grade-B, end-of-rotation action, not something seething, a strong comeback that gives us a real launching pad to higher prices,” he added. All this could lead to three scenarios:

The Fed could surprise the markets and there will be rotation back into tech to their pre-selloff levels.

The Fed can hint towards another rate hike and the banks will rally.

The market will get hit on account of the Fed meeting and investors will have to figure out what works.

“The bottom line? Today felt more like the end of a rotation, not the beginning of a new one, and without a fresh catalyst I can’t see us lifting off from here, unless Fed chief Janet Yellen manages to say things are terrific, we need to raise rates, and then she turns out to be genuinely sanguine that the future is brighter than the past,” concluded Cramer.

Off the charts

Cramer went to the charts with the help of technician Tim Collins to review Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) as it has started showing some life.

The stock has traded sideways for four months. The breakout in April failed as it was on light volume. The upper Bollinger band has been going higher along with rise in volume which shows that the up move is legit. “According to Collins, if the stock can get back above $61 and stay there for a few days, the breakout will become real, and this current ceiling of resistance will turn into Emerson’s new floor, a floor of support,” said Cramer.

The full stochastic oscillator showed that the stock was overbought in April but the case is different now. “Put it all together, and Collins believes that Emerson could be ready for a quick move up to $63,” added Cramer. Its weekly charts show that the consolidation is a part of the larger climb. He expects the stock to continue its climb over the next 18 months and reach $70 in next six to eight months.

If the stock takes a hit and goes below $55, the bulls will pull their positions and the up move will not happen. “Here’s the bottom line: if you believe in this worldwide economic growth story that I’ve been talking about and you’re looking for an industrial with some upside here that really hasn’t moved that much. My view? Hey, look, you could do a lot worse than Emerson, and management’s paying you this nice 3.15% yield just to wait for something good to happen,” concluded Cramer.

Railroad operator CSX has seen its stock move up from $25-53 in 12 months with a more than 50% move YTD. Most of these gains came after former CEO Michael Ward stepped down and the veteran Hunter Harrison took his place.

“If you ever believed that executives didn’t matter, that a CEO was just another semi-replacement cog in a larger machine, this action in CSX is proof positive that the stock market disagrees with you,” said Cramer.

Since becoming CEO, Harrison has made significant changes. He introduced precision schedule railroading which means running of fewer smaller trains on tight schedules with cost controls. That has led to massive improvements in velocity, on-time arrivals and earnings.

“The market’s acting like Hunter Harrison can work miracles at CSX, and honestly, he’s already done a very impressive job. However, this stock has already run up so much that I think if you want to buy shares in CSX, you need to wait for a better entry point if you already don’t own it. I hate to chase, so be patient; sooner or later we’ll get a market-wide pullback again and then you can pounce on this reinvented railroad,” said Cramer.

Their $1B buyback program and dividend boost shows the company has confidence in their performance.

Low dollar stocks are tempting for uninformed investors but Cramer said one should be fully aware of the risks. Take the case of Teekay Shipping, a shipping play on marine energy transportation which trades at $6.

Teekay’s stock price moves in relation to the oil price and hence it has lost 90% of its value since the oil glut in 2014. Cramer dug deeper to see if the company has issues after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock.

“With oil stuck in the $40s, this stock just keeps languishing in the single digits. And we know why: the cost of production here in the United States has gotten so low that our domestic companies can flood the market with supply whenever oil goes above $50 a barrel,” said Cramer. The note from Morgan Stanley suggested a reverse merger and Cramer thinks investors should take this seriously.

“Even if the situation is less dire than Morgan Stanley suggests, the fact is that this whole space has become kind of radioactive. I know you’re drawn to it. I don’t want that. Teekay’s got plenty of troubles beyond the liquidity issue. I’m not saying the bears will absolutely be right. I am saying that there are much safer places to speculate with your money,” said Cramer.

The company’s CEO resigning in January and the chairman due to follow soon are signs that things are not great with them.

It was perhaps the most memorable phrase that came from the testimony given by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions on Tuesday, his assertion of an “appalling and detestable” set of accusations.

Of course, it’s the same kind of thing that one could imagine critics of Sessions and President Trump saying about the accusations of collusion with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In other words, Sessions’ session likely generated more heat than light.

Good morning from the state capital, where we await Thursday’s big vote on a new state budget agreement. I’m Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers, and we’ll get to those details in a moment.

And then check out the comparison between Sessions’ testimony and the appearance last week of James Comey, the former FBI director whose comments raised serious questions about whether Trump sought to squash a key part of the agency’s investigation.

THE QUESTIONS ASKED SAID A LOT ABOUT THE SENATORS

Cathleen Decker’s analysis of the big event focuses on what she calls “the ambitious class of new senators” who had yet another moment in the spotlight of the biggest story in American politics.

As she points out, there’s advantage to be found for some in the chaos.

We also take a closer look at the performance of California’s two senators, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Kamala Harris. It was Feinstein’s questions that made clear Sessions was throwing up a wall in discussing his conversations with the president.

And Harris, the former district attorney, used her prosecutorial approach to elicit one of the most memorable quips from the nation’s top cop: “I’m not able to be rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.”

No doubt there will be more reaction this week, and we’ll have all of it on our Essential Washington news feed.

THE MUELLER QUESTION

Meanwhile, another hot topic remains on all things Trump: Would, or could, the president fire Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigations?

David Lauter examines the legal part of the question, which is based on a theory floated by one of the president’s confidants that Trump was considering it. The answer is, at best, muddled.

But the person with the clearest power — the man overseeing Mueller’s work — seemed to pretty much silence the debate on Tuesday.

“I’m not going to follow any order unless I believe they are lawful and appropriate orders,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosensteinwhen asked about a theoretical order from the president to fire Mueller.

The buzz prompted a response from the White House late Tuesday night: Trump has “no intention” of booting the special counsel.

By the way, dare we say it? Mueller only got the job four weeks ago.

A STATE BUDGET DEAL DELAYED, BUT DONE

We’re prepping for a formal vote on Thursday here in Sacramento on a new state budget, a $183.2-billion deal that finally was sealed after negotiations on two topics.

Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders had long been at loggerheads over how to spend new tobacco tax dollars. In the end, Brown gave more than he wanted — earmarking money to boost payments to doctors that treat Medi-Cal patients — but less than demanded by advocates who helped pass the tax through last fall’s Proposition 56.

Like most state budget spending plans, there are some unusual items tucked into this one. Perhaps none are as controversial as a provision to revamp state law pertaining to recall elections, just in time to change the rules, should a pending effort to oust an Orange County state senator who voted to raise California’s gas tax.

Also controversial: a budget provision making big changes to the beleaguered state Board of Equalization, including the elimination of many of its duties and shifting the job of holding tax appeal hearings to a new office of administrative law judges.

The budget’s fine print also includes a ban on firearms for Californians with outstanding warrants for a felony or certain misdemeanors.

And the spending plan would allow medical and recreational marijuana to be sold out of the same locations. The pot industry had sought the change to cut costs and the number of operations.

We’ll be covering Thursday’s big vote as well as more details from the budget agreement on our Essential Politics news feed.

UNDERSTANDING THE PUSH FOR BAIL REFORM

State lawmakers in December introduced a twin-bill effort to overhaul Califiornia’s bail system, as calls for action and legal challenges have spurred momentum for changes to court and jail practices nationwide.

But after one of those proposals stalled in the state Assembly last week, the future of the other hangs in the balance. Jazmine Ulloa offers a sharp look at the remaining plan and the challenges it faces this summer.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

— Senate leaders have struck a deal to toughen U.S. sanctions on Russia.

— The Treasury secretary said he supports major rollbacks of the financial reforms put in place after the 2008 recession.

— Brown welcomed the prime minister of Fiji to Sacramento on Tuesday, who promptly made the governor a special advisor the next United Nations conference on climate change.

— The House of Representatives has given final approval to making it easier to fire Veteran Affairs Department managers accused of misconduct.

— Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said on Tuesday he supports the push for single-payer healthcare in California.

— Thousands of L.A. voters have already gone to the polls four times in the past four months. And a couple of more elections may be on the way.

LOGISTICS

Essential Politics is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?

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Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.

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NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI): It’s being bought by Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). Elliott wants them to pay more for NXP Semiconductors but Cramer doesn’t know if that will happen. His trust owns the stock.

Domino’s (NYSE:DPZ): It’s a tech company that sells pizzas that are the best in the world. Don’t sell it.

HollyFrontier (NYSE:HFC): It’s an inexpensive stock but it’s just good or a trade.

Bearish Calls

Xylem (NYSE:XYL): It’s a pure play on water. When Pentair (NYSE:PNR) splits into two, it’ll be even better.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI): “I didn’t like that downgrade that we got today at Goldman Sachs. That concerned me. I’d like to see the stock off a little more. I say there’s no hurry to pull the trigger.”

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TSA tests fingerprint technology at DIA – FOX31 Denver

TSA tests fingerprint technology at DIA

DENVER, Colo. – Don’t be surprised if your next trip through security at DIA brings you face-to-face with a new biometric fingerprint scanner.

DIA is one of two airports in the country conducting a proof of concept demonstration with the devices, to see how well they may work in speeding up security screenings in the future. You will also find the technology in the TSA pre-check line of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Much like when you use your thumbprint to access an iPhone, the new biometric authentication technology would allow travelers to use their fingerprints in place of both a boarding pass and ID.

It would only work for passengers who previously provided their fingerprints by enrolling in the TSA Pre✓® screening program.

Once your fingerprints are matched up, the machine would then obtain your boarding pass information through Secure Flight.

All participation is completely voluntary, but for the time being, any passengers who decide to participate will still have to provide the required boarding pass and identification. That’s because this is just a data collection period. Which also means pre-check passengers who haven’t registered their fingerprints can also volunteer to use the system, because all data collected at this time is valuable information that will be analyzed by TSA.

TSA Acting Assistant Administrator Steve Karoly of the Office of Requirements and Capabilities Analysis said, “Through these and other technology demonstrations, we are looking to reinvent and enhance security effectiveness to meet the evolving threat and ensure that passengers get to their destinations safely.”

TSA will analyze the data collected in Denver and Atlanta’s pilot programs, in hopes of potentially implementing the new technology at other U.S. airports in the future.